(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to belt-mounted supply pouches. More specifically, the present invention relates to an environmentally protected, belt-mounted supply pouch used for holding drug cartridges in a temperature insulated and contamination resistant environment.
(2) Prior Art
Medical personnel are sometimes required to administer subcutaneous injections to patients in the field or outside the confines of a medically sterile and temperature controlled clinical environment. Veterinarians are often called upon to administer injections to domestic livestock in barnyards, corrals, or out-buildings. These environments are typically subject to high levels of surface and airborne contaminants such as dirt, animal excrement, animal hair, feed particulate or other forms of contamination. In addition, these environments are subject to weather and temperature extremes. Field injections typically take place year-round in many geographical areas; thus, the field environment in which these injections occur is subject to the extreme cold of the winter months or northern latitudes and the extreme heat of summer months or southern latitudes.
The need for a drug injection system for use in the field is increasingly more important. In general, such systems employ a delivery means for injecting a drug formulation from a prefilled and disposable cartridge or container. Many drug formulations such as antibiotics, steroids, vitamins, or formulations for increasing milk or meat yield in domestic animals can be administered using these drug delivery systems. One particularly significant formulation is bovine somatotropin (BST) for use as an agent for increasing milk production efficiency of dairy cows. Often these formulations are sensitive to temperature extremes present in the environment in which they are administered. This is true not only because the formulations themselves may be rendered ineffective beyond some temperature threshold, but also because an increase in the viscosity of a particular formulation associated with a decrease in temperature may render the drug delivery system used with the formulation inoperable. An important component lacking in a typical field-use drug delivery system is a means for storing a supply of drug containers in an insulated, contamination resistant and readily portable supply pouch.
Prior art supply pouch designs typically do not provide an insulated cavity; since, most prior art pouches are not oriented toward medical or drug cartridge containment applications. Those prior art pouches including insulation are not designed to be attached to a belt and worn on the waist of the user. The added benefit of a contamination resistant design is not apparent in the prior art. Further, the ability to reach into a covered pouch without opening a cover is not apparent in the prior art. The combination of these features has been particularly difficult to achieve because of the bulky nature of the insulating material and the need for a belt-mounted device to be small, compact, and easily portable.
Thus, a readily portable yet temperature insulated and contamination resistant supply pouch for holding a supply of drug cartridges or containers is needed.